ZOGAR

Windycon was a great deal of fun, as always.  Got to meet some new folks and catch up with friends … I didn’t have much programming, so in a lot of ways this one turned into a social con for me.  Many hugs, lots of hanging out chatting in the lobby and elsewhere.  Met some new fans, but managed to keep the ego from getting too swollen (despite certain people’s best efforts). All in all, a good way to spend a weekend.

I learned that the steampunk theme brings out a lot of costumers, which was fun to see.  Got to hear Tom Smith in concert, ate way too much food, and made it to one and a quarter of my two panels.  (DAW vs. Baen was cross-scheduled with the Writing Workshop, so sadly I only caught the last 10 minutes of the panel.)

One of the most entertaining moments was when author Kelly Swails donned a Jig the goblin tattoo and decided to pose urban fantasy style, complete with a knife she swiped from the restaurant.  Naturally, this called for the full cover art treatment.  I’m obviously  not a professional graphic designer, but I’m pretty amused by what I was able to put together last night*.

Every good goblin-themed urban fantasy requires an equally good title, right?  “Goblin Killer Blues” was suggested by archivist Lynne Thomas.  Think you can do better?  Suggest a title in the comments, and I’ll put the best ideas up for a vote.  The winner gets an autographed copy of The Mermaid’s Madness [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy].

Have fun!

—
*Because this is the Internet and I know someone will ask, the answer is no, I am not writing a goblin-themed urban fantasy book.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

Not much to say. Too busy. Doc and I are about to finish our collaborative script for the finale of season 4.2 and I'm literally on my way out the door to the final sound mix for the last episode of season 4.1.

As such I will soon be blessedly free from writing and post-production duties for a while. Looking forward to just being a director for the next several months--still a difficult, full-time job, but at least it's not three difficult, full-time jobs on top of each other.

I did want to say that tonight's episode is really really good, though. Probably my favorite of Doc's scripts in these first eight episodes. Much to enjoy in it, on the biggest and smallest of scales. And if you're not finally converted to Sgt. Hatred by this one, then you're never ever going to like the poor lug.

Also, the Williams Street online store has a ton of new Venture Bros. merch for sale. Get 'em now, before our request for freebies exhausts their limited supply!

We Love You,

JP



P.S. Two small items my perusal of various message boards these past few weeks compels me to comment upon:

1. Captain Sunshine = NOT an actual pedophile.

2. Brock's absence has nothing to do with Patrick Warburton. He didn't ask for more money, he's not too busy for us, he hasn't refused to come back or anything of the sort. It was a creative choice on our part, and Brock WILL be back in the show at some point. Just not this week. Or next.

Comics journo alumni Andy Khouri recently blogged about the unenviable task of covering a convention panel live.

For those unaware, comics news organizations such as Wizard, CBR and Newsarama give intensive coverage of newsworthy events that occur at North American (and sometimes UK) comics convention. Most of the news is doled out during panel discussions. Imagine a room full of people with a long table at the front, staffed with comics professionals that talk about their work. It is the task of yeoman freelancers from those organizations to stake out a chair, strap on a laptop, and provide a summarized transcription of the panel as it happens. Up until about 4 years ago, this was finished and posted later in the day. With the inevitable cold war of battling comics websites, being their first led to panel reports being updated line-by-line — you could literally refresh your screen every minute or so and get a new, piping hot nugget of information. I’ve done this for several conventions — most notably Comic-Con International.

Explanation out of the way, Khouri highlighted the truly grueling nature of it all for the writer in question, and pointed out the relatively haphazard way it presents itself — afterall, there’s not really time to dress it up — there’s 20 more panels to go. Like Andy, I haven’t been privy enough to see what the traffic numbers are for people hitting refresh on a page but as a business-person it must be significant; each refresh might count as a new page view for advertisers. But it does lead to a degradation of actual reporting and the benefit of a big picture view of it all, which can also be seen in the wider world of comics journalism. But this problem isn’t just in comics — I see it in video game coverage, as well as my local newspaper covering the monthly county commission meeting. For major pieces I’ve seen someone come back and do a cleaned-up and worked-up article version of a panel transcription, which is great — but I’m sure is something easily cut as a budget-saving measure.

So, is there a better way? Not really. But it would be interesting to have more real-time audio recordings of the events; imagine having podcasts of the panels available on iTunes — or even video, for that matter. But even with those methods, some people would still prefer to read it as plain text. I’m one of them, in most cases.

On the plus side, it shows how fervent the readers are for the virtual connection to “live, as it happens(!)” announcements and pronouncements that come from the conventions — as CBR’s Hannibal Tatu blogs about. Writing for Newsarama since 2003, I’m amazed at the good work Albert Ching in this area has done with all the constraints that the format imposes. It’s currently part of the required menu of a full-service comics news sites, like it or leave it.

Originally published at . You can comment here or there.

Still looking for some new digs.

Might as well considering there's not much in the way of possible new jobs out there. Did I tell you guys I sent a resume off to a station in Shreveport, LA? I thought it could be cool, it's a management position. Before anyone starts saying that it might not be a good idea for me to be in a supervisory role, I think it could be a good move for me. I think about what I could do in the TV business besides directing a lot; one day I could be considered too old to be a director and all that stuff.

I've said for years that I could run a crew, do the hiring, the training, and all that stuff. I think I can do it, and it's kind of hard to teach people how to do the job when I'm directing sometimes.

Dunno man, I'm not holding my breath because the station hasn't called me, I keep thinking it could be because the deadline for resumes hasn't passed yet, but it could be cool.

Lots of commas in that last sentence, huh?

*END TRANSMISSION*

• Looking at my schedule for this weekend more closely, I’m doing the writing workshop at the same time as the DAW vs. Baen panel, so unless we have last-minute dropouts from the workshop, it looks like I’ll be missing that panel.  I’m sad about this, because it had the potential to be … well, lively, if nothing else.

• Since I am doing the “What Kids are Reading” panel on Sunday, I thought I’d open things up to suggestions.  What do you think are the must-read kid titles of 2009?  I’ve got some ideas, but there’s always room for more.  (I may compile a full list of suggested books after the panel and post that next week, if folks would be interested?)

• My annual domestic violence book drive will be starting next week.  Details to come.

• Finally, dear NASA — please build this.  (Only, you know, out of genuine spaceworthy materials instead of LEGO.)  This is the Carl Sagan, a mindblowing collaborative project between Lego Monster and Mad Physicist.  It even has its own shuttles!  One picture does not do this sucker justice.  Click the pic for the full set.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

• First off, a quote from author C. C. Finlay: “The third law of writing: For every fiction there is an equal and opposite re-fiction. For example, if there is The Hobbit, eventually someone will inevitably write Goblin Quest.”  I am much amused.

• The SF/F Humor Roundup is up to 22 short stories and 12 novels.  So far, so good!  I’m working on guidelines to try to cut down on blatant self-promotion.  I don’t mind authors recommending their own work, but I don’t want a list of 30 stories from every online nook and cranny.  I’m thinking of limiting self-promotional recommendations to one short story and/or one novel.  What do you think?

• I’ll be heading to Windycon tomorrow.  I’ve got the Manly Baen vs. Womanly DAW panel Saturday at 10, an autographing session Saturday at 2, What are Kids Reading on Sunday at 10, and I’ll be reading my muppet werewolf tale on Sunday at Noon.  Hope to see some of you there!

#

I realized I haven’t done an actual writing update in a while.  After finishing the revisions for Red Hood’s Revenge, I started back in on Snow Queen.  I struggled through the current chapter, but it was painful.  The whole thing felt like it was stuck, and I had no idea where to go from here.

Some of the more experienced writers probably know exactly where I’m at in this manuscript.  That’s right, it’s the dreaded 30,000 word slog.  Every book I’ve done for the past five years has hit this same point, where my outline falls apart and the story crashes and burns.

Fortunately, I’ve done this enough times to recognize it.  The solution for me?  Step back and rewrite the outline.  When I’m first planning a book, my brain can’t hold the whole thing.  So I outline and do the best I can, but by the time I’ve typed 25K-30K words, I’ve changed enough that the outline no longer works.

I’ve spent the past week outlining, and I’m just about ready to dive back in.  I’m not going to start over from the beginning, because I’ve found that just wastes time for me.  But I’ve made notes about what to change in the rewrite, and more importantly, I’m excited about some of the new ideas and directions I’m taking in the rest of the story.  I’m also surprised to realize I don’t know how this book is going to end.  I honestly don’t know whether or not certain characters will survive.  That’s kind of fun

So there’s where I’m at with the writing.  Book three is done, book four is underway, and the back of my brain is quietly percolating ideas for the next series.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

Alright, dig that bike, it's a customized out the wazzoo Harley-Davidson Sportster (Harley's version of a sportbike circa 1950). Note the guy riding it looks like a regular person, not a Hells Angels wannabe-reject.

Almost every time I look at pics of custom bikes/choppers (whether its a Harley, or a Honda or whatever with two wheels) built in Japan for the locals, the people always look so happy, lots of smiles and all that. It's almost like they're just so friggin ecstatic to have the machine. Such a change of pace from the jagoffs that show in places like Hollister or Panama City for Thunder Beach.

It's just cool.

Last night I spent two hours at karate.  (Got my promotion form for 3rd brown belt — woo hoo!)  It was a good workout, but the class only meets once a week, so I’ve started trying to ride the exercise bike a few times a week too.

There are a few reasons for this.  My day job is very sedentary.  I spend all day sitting at a desk answering questions, and then I come home and sit at a different desk and try to catch up on writing-related work.  (If you’re going to do the writing thing, it’s a good idea to do something active, just to keep your body from atrophying altogether.  /Soapbox)

I’m also doing it for my mood.  Yesterday was a craptastic day at work.  Two hours at karate, and I was completely past it.  Today was worse.  A half-hour of pedalling and watching The Daily Show, and I’m in a much better space.

Finally, exercise is good for the diabetes.  The disease heightens the chances of trouble with the majority of your internal organs, so exercise is a good idea to help counteract that.

But there’s a problem.  You see, a good aerobic workout affects your metabolism for 24 hours or more.  In my case, it’s a very noticeable effect, because it means I need less insulin for at least 24 hours after riding the bike.

If I were to get the same amount of exercise every single day, I’d be all set.  I’d just need to adjust my baseline dosage for post-workout mode, and remember to take less insulin at meals.  But because I can’t do this every day, it means I get the joy of trying to manage two baseline rates, as well as calculating two dosage ratios at meals.

Add to this the fact that my insulin needs vary from day to day anyway, depending on stress, exhaustion, activity, the phase of the moon, and Shadowstar only knows what else.  So the exercise throws yet another variable into the mix.  I’m pretty good at estimating my needs, but it’s not an exact science.

The ironic part?  Exercise usually helps you lose weight, right?  Over the past month, as I’ve tried to sort out the new dosages, I’ve probably gained weight because I keep dosing too aggressively for post-exercise mode, which drops my blood sugar, which then requires the prompt application of M&Ms.

It really is a rude disease.  But the exercise has been a good thing overall, both emotionally and physically.  I may need to keep testing more often, but I’ll get this sorted out eventually.  And in the meantime, hey–how often do you get a medically valid excuse to eat chocolate?

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

- Ok, so we're doing the new place search thing again. Found one or two places that could be good. We've found a neat condo/flat in Monterey, a townhouse in Marina, and a duplex in Salinas. I just want to get into a place we'll be happy with.

- My legs and arms are killing from the exercise session with Jim. It was a crazy work-out that the guy who trains him came up with for Israeli commandos. Oh man, it was brutal!

- While we were looking at places yesterday, Cara and I found the Church's Chicken in Seaside! It was soooooo good. I was stoked to have decent fried chicken.

- We took my niece to the aquarium Saturday as a late-birthday present. She had a good time, I think it's because Cara and me rule, or something like that. I find myself liking my niece a lot more every time I see her; Cara would say it's because she like octopus also.

By now, I imagine many of you have seen Publishers Weekly’s roundup of the ten very best books of 2009, a list which just happens to only include male authors.  Sure, the girls made it into some of the secondary lists, but the ten best?  All boys.

I would also check out Lizzie Skurnick’s response at Politics Daily, which included this bit from PW: “We wanted the list to reflect what we thought were the top 10 books of the year with no other consideration . . . We ignored gender and genre and who had the buzz . . . It disturbed us when we were done that our list was all male.”

So here’s my question: What should PW have done when they realized they had come up with an all-male list?

We pause now for the predictable response.

“You keep your quotas off of us, you damn, dirty PC police!”

Right.  Moving on, the thing I don’t get is that the folks at PW say they were disturbed by this, but they don’t appear to have done anything about it.  Did they ever take that next step and ask, “Why, if we were truly ignoring gender, did we still come up with an all-male list?  We’re talking less than a 1 in 1000 chance of this happening purely at random*, which suggests maybe we weren’t as gender-blind as we thought.”

Our own biases are hard to face.  It’s easier and safer to turn the blame outward or make excuses:

• It’s just one list, and we have girls in some of the others!
• Maybe more men published good books this year.
• It’s the story that counts, not the gender/race/etc. of the author.
• Women helped to make this list, so it can’t be sexist!
• Maybe women should be proactive and start writing better books!

I could go on and on listing reasons that basically amount to “It’s not my fault,” and “I’m not sexist!”  We could spend the whole month debunking most of those reasons.

But in the end, Publishers Weekly published this list.  They were aware enough to recognize something wasn’t right, and I give them props for that.  But that’s much easier than actually taking responsibility.  We can say, “Oh look, a list of all men.  That’s gonna be a problem, because those bloggers are going to raise hell that we didn’t include a token woman.”

Or we can stop making excuses and try being accountable for our own choices and behaviors.  We can say, “I tried to be  gender-blind about this, but ended up with an all-male list.  Huh.  I didn’t consciously try to pick only male authors, but maybe I’m not as gender-blind or unbiased as I thought.”

Nobody’s asking for quotas.  Me, I’m just asking people to grow up and take responsibility for their choices.  Yes, we’re talking about an industry-wide issue that affects publishing on many different levels.  But the industry is made up of individuals, and every one of us, myself included, has our own biases and prejudices. We can ignore them and make the same tired excuses, or we can face them and try to do better.

We all mess up.  I just wish more folks would own up to it when it happens.

—
*Assuming a 50/50 breakdown of male and female authors.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

Here we go!  This is the link for the 2009 roundup of humorous science fiction and fantasy.  Let this be the first step toward a new age, an age in which humorous books can walk proudly beside their literary brothers and sisters, an age in which puns and nose-picking jokes shall be treated with the respect and accolades they deserve!

http://www.jimchines.com/humor-2009/

If you’ve read some amusing science fiction or fantasy from this year, please let me know and I’ll add it to the list!

If you’ve written something funny, same deal–but please note that I’m only listing work that appeared in paid/commercial publications.  And no, that $1.00 advance from Publish America doesn’t count.

Finally, if you have feedback on the page itself, please let me know.  This is a work in progress, and will probably evolve as it goes.

Please feel free to spread the word to anyone you think might be interested, and thanks!

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

• As insane as this week has been at work, it’s been a very good writing week.  I just found out that my German publisher is picking up both Mermaid’s Madness and Red Hood’s Revenge.  Excellent!

• Also exciting, Red Hood’s Revenge is up for pre-order on Amazon!  I’m told it’s been there for a few weeks, which shows how distracted I’ve been.  Normally my obsessive surfing habits would have uncovered that much more quickly.

• Neil Gaiman has given me permission to make T-shirts of my 20 Neil Gaiman Facts.  All that remains is to decide where.  I’m leaning toward Zazzle over CafePress, but I’m open to suggestions–any experiences with these or other online vendors, good or bad?

• Based on your responses, I’ll definitely be doing the 2009 SF/F Humor Roundup.  It shouldn’t take too long to put together; I just need to make the time to sit down and do it.  Hopefully by this time next week…

• Finally, your weekly LEGO.  Anyone who’s seen Howl’s Moving Castle should recognize this one, built by Imagine’s Brickzone.  (And anyone who hasn’t should go rent the movie.)  Click the pic for the full Flickr set, including a better view of Turnip Head there on the right.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

While we finally got the insurance check the other day, there's still some issues with the damn thing. When Cara deposited it today, her bank told her there was going to be a hold on the check due to the large amount and the fact that it was made out to her maiden name.

Damnit.

We both want this to be over and done with. Thankfully she held on to the money her mom loaned us for the down-payment on the truck so that check won't bounce and we'll pay her back as soon as the deposit clears the bank.

It's frigging ridiculous and I wish Cara would sit down and get hammered or something to get it (the whole experience) out of her system. But she's not. Seeing as how we're working on breeding (as in trying to have a kid), she's not in a booze mood.

Did I mention that we were working on having a kid? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, we decided to go for it back in the middle of the summer. For a while it was a little draining, she was charting her periods and ovulation, and scheduling "things" (made me feel like a piece of meat and all that), and... Wait... Ladies, am I getting just a little too personal here?

Probably.

In short, I think my wife's gone slightly baby-crazy. Or just slightly crazy. I guess that happens, especially when you're off birth-control.

So that's all I got here man. Not much else.

I think I need a drink.

*END TRANSMISSION*

Happy news!!!  The Mermaid’s Madness [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] was the #1 paperback bestseller at both Mysterious Galaxy and Uncle Hugo’s–two wonderful and well-known SF/F bookstores–for the month of October!

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I just finished reading The Enchantment Emporium [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] the latest novel by Tanya Huff.  I consider myself a pretty big fan of Huff’s work.  She was doing awesome urban vampires when Stephenie Meyer was still learning to type. I love her Keeper series, her military SF … yeah, I’m a fan.

In many ways, The Enchantment Emporium feels like a typical Huff book.  You’ve got the strong female protagonist, Allie Gale, a witch who inherits her grandmother’s shop when grandmother disappears.  You’ve got fun, interesting secondary characters popping up.  You’ve got the snappy dialogue, the humor, the Canadian setting, and all of the little touches that make a good story even more fun to read (I loved the yo-yos!)  Allie is away from her family for the first time, trying to find out what happened to her grandmother while dealing with an immanent dragon invasion and worse.

Warning — minor spoilers follow!

I’m still thinking about this one, and would love to hear from anyone else who’s read the book.  I think my biggest hesitation comes from the intertwining of sexuality and magic, and the way that’s written.  The Gale family of witches is … let’s call them highly liberal.  Like the royals of old, there’s a lot of inbreeding, mostly to keep the magic strong within the family.  I’m okay with that part of the story.  It makes sense, and it’s hinted several times that the Gales aren’t 100% human.  Different species, different taboos, right?

But then you have scenes of group spellcasting, where the males go rather staglike from so much power, and have to be brought back down, sexually.  I.e., “That was a big ritual.  I’d better do Bob to keep him from exploding.”

Like I said, I’m still thinking about it.  The characters are all written to be open and comfortable with the situation.  So what happens between consenting adult mostly-human witches shouldn’t be a problem, right?  But I guess the fact that magic essentially forced them into sex troubles me, and I wish Huff had gone a little deeper into that.

I’ve heard complaints that there isn’t enough explanation or exposition about the magic system, other dimensions, and so on, but I didn’t have that problem.  I think most experienced fantasy readers will be okay, but newcomers to the genre might be better off starting with one of Huff’s other works.

So if you’ve read the book, what did you think?  If you haven’t but read the whole post anyway, I still want to know what you think

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

October kicked my ass, but man, what a ride.  The Mermaid’s Madness [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] came out at the start of the month.  I did my first-ever guest of honor stint at Icon.  There were signings and readings. I also did a final revision on Red Hood’s Revenge, which I turned in on Sunday (woo hoo!)

I’m probably going to be playing catch-up for a while longer, but wanted to talk about one of the panel discussions we had at Icon, about humor in science fiction and fantasy.  I’ve thought about this a fair amount, having published a number of rather silly stories over the years.  One of the things we chatted about was the style of humor in some SF/F stories and circles–the puns, the in-jokes, the puns, the Star Wars and Monty Python quotes, the puns…

One of the reasons I think a lot of us enjoy this sort of thing, whether it’s competitive punning or protesting, “You keep using that word–I do not think it means what you think it means,” is that it’s a group identity thing. It’s a shibboleth, a way to identify fellow geeks, to affirm that yes, I belong.  Every family has its quirks, its unique language and vocabulary.  Geek humor serves the same purpose.

Another thing we discussed is the fact that humor is hard to write well.  Trying to balance the funny with the needs of the story, learning where humor will have the most effect in a story, using it as a counterpoint to the serious moments to balance and strengthen both … there’s a lot to learn.

Sadly for those of us who broke in with bunny knives and nose-picking goblins, humor doesn’t get taken that seriously. (Go figure, right?) I’m not saying every pun-filled title deserves to be on the New York Times Bestseller List, but can someone explain to me why the heck Terry Pratchett hasn’t taken home a Hugo or a Nebula yet?

So I’m thinking about starting a roundup of humorous stories and books published in a given year, including links and information to make it easy for anyone nominating or voting on the Hugo and Nebula to read the funny stuff that’s eligible.

Sure, this is partly self-serving, as it gives me the chance to share my muppet werewolf story.  (On that note, if you’re in SFWA or registered for Worldcon, and if you’re interested, please let me know and I’ll e-mail you a copy of  “Creature in Your Neighborhood”.) But I think it would be good to build more awareness and recognition for the humorous side of the genre and the writers doing it well.

For now, this would probably be a page on my site that I’d maintain myself. I’m thinking of restricting it to paid publications–an arbitrary choice that would eliminate self-published stories, but something I’m willing to reconsider.

So, thoughts about humor in general or an annual humor round-up in particular?  Good idea? Lame idea? Pitfalls I should be aware of?

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

New Slayer record came out today. Gotta get that and the new records by Alice In Chains, VNV Nation, and Baroness.